Climate Change
Ninth Circuit Rules Against Indian Tribe’s Climate Change Suit
Not much of a surprise here; a Ninth Circuit panel “has ruled against the northwest Alaska village of Kivalina, which sued energy companies over claims that greenhouse emissions contributed to global warming that is threatening the community’s existence.” The village brought a common-law public nuisance claim against the oil companies, but the panel held that …
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CONTINUE READINGWarren versus Brown on Energy and Environment
At the debate between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown last night, there was a brief discussion of energy issues. Brown defended subsidies for oil companies but criticized Warren for trying to tie him to Jim Inhofe. Unlike Inhofe, Brown does believe in climate change (at least right now — he seems to have waffled over …
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CONTINUE READINGMore Idiocy from the Wall Street Journal Op-ed Page
A few years ago, a friend of mine suggested starting a blog entitled something like, “Why The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Was Idiotic Today.” You’d never run out of material for posts! Certainly that was the case today, as Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative Mike Pompeo, both Republicans, make a case against the wind …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and National Security
The two parties disagree sharply about whether climate change can be considered a threat to our national security. A recent paper by Andrew Guzman (Berkeley) and Jody Freeman (Harvard) summarizes the support for this idea among serious students of national security: In 2008, the National Intelligence Council produced the most comprehensive analysis to date of …
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CONTINUE READINGSetting the Record Straight on Obama and the Environment
We shouldn’t underestimate Obama’s environmental achievements.
CONTINUE READINGReasonably Libertarian: Gary Johnson’s Environmental Views
Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson isn’t exactly a household name, but it looks like he’s going to be on the ballot in nearly all states. That made me curious about his environmental positions. I have to admit that Johnson’s views were better than I expected. You can’t really call Johnson an environmentalist, but he looks quite …
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CONTINUE READINGGolden Rules for Fracking
Well, this is embarrassing. Kevin Drum, one of the best bloggers out there, posted a few days ago on the issue of whether hydraulic fracturing is good or bad for the environment. Kevin covers the ground that we have here before, namely: Yes, natural gas is better than coal or other fossil fuels in terms …
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CONTINUE READINGComments on FHFA’s Proposed Rule on Enterprise Writing Standards for PACE Programs
As we have chronicled earlier on this blog, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)’s court-ordered rulemaking on Enterprise Writing Standards for Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs resulted in thousands of public comments in response to the Agency’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)—the overwhelming majority in support of PACE. Today is the deadline for submitting …
CONTINUE READINGWhat the Convention Speeches Could Teach Economists About the Discount Rate
The economic formulas assume that people want their children and grandchildren to be as well off as they are, no better and no worse. But people actually want the future to be better than the present, and they’re willing to make sacrifices for this to happen.
CONTINUE READINGWhat Is the Future Role of Fossil Fuels in the Electricity System?
If you put aside their environmental impacts, fossil fuels are wonderful for generating electricity. They are cheap, reliable, and currently in abundant supply. But the environmental drawbacks are considerable, and the most serious one is their contribution to climate change. To deal with climate change, do we need to adopt an attitude of unremitting hostility …
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